


Blame it on the blood loss

by Dunloth



Series: KakaIru Mini Bingo 2019 [1]
Category: Naruto
Genre: Accidental Confession, Challenge: kakairu_fest Mini-Bingo, Community: kakairu_fest, M/M, light Umino Iruka/Uchiha Sasuke
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-02-26
Updated: 2020-02-26
Packaged: 2021-02-27 20:42:07
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,929
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22901896
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Dunloth/pseuds/Dunloth
Summary: It took almost dying for Kakashi to confess. But he didn't die, and later he wouldn't admit it. Iruka takes extreme measures, including shock treatment.
Relationships: Hatake Kakashi/Umino Iruka
Series: KakaIru Mini Bingo 2019 [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1649836
Comments: 10
Kudos: 98
Collections: KakaIru 2019 Mini Bingo!





	Blame it on the blood loss

**Author's Note:**

>   
> Written for the KakaIru Fest Mini Bingo.  
> Prompt: Accidental Confession.  
> CW: blood, injuries.  
> Squick Warning: light teacher/student relationship (no underage, Sasuke here is twenty-something years old).  
> Consider it a slight canon divergence where Kakashi didn't lose his sharingan in the war and adult Sasuke is back in Konoha.

Kakashi shouted, "Watch out, Iruka!" and jumped between Iruka and the burst of tiny water bullets launched by the Mist shinobi attacking them. Iruka was caught by surprise, paralyzed, watching the swarm of shiny bullets as they seemed to move in slow motion, cutting through the slanted rays of the late afternoon sun, and painting for a moment a deadly rainbow in the forest clearing where they were fighting. 

Kakashi skidded on the fallen leaves and barely had enough time to cast a defensive wind jutsu before the attack hit them. A round translucent chakra shield caught most of the nasty water bullets and made them bounce back to the attacker at full speed. 

Most of the bullets, but not all. A couple of them broke through the shield with a cracking sound and hit Kakashi, sinking deep into his chest.

Kakashi groaned in pain, and fell to the ground. Their enemy fell too, mirroring Kakashi. The shinobi from Mist didn't move again.

"Kakashi!" Iruka let himself fall to the ground with Kakashi, trying to catch him and soften his fall.

Kakashi braced himself in pain. The wounds were small but deep. One of the bullets went all through Kakashi's chest and made an exit wound through his shoulder blade. There was too much blood, Iruka tried to stifle it with his bare hands pressing over the injuries, but the blood kept escaping between his fingers at an alarming rate.

"I think they got my aorta. We need a med-nin, fast," Kakashi said, pain sharp in his voice.

"Sakura!" Iruka turned his head around and bellowed the kunoichi's name with a ring of desperation Kakashi had never heard before in the sensei's voice.

Iruka turned his face back to Kakashi, trying to calm down.

"All right, it's all right. Try to relax. Try to... Bleed less."

Kakashi made a start of a chuckle and regretted it instantly. "Are you serious? How am I supposed to bleed less?"

"Shut up! I'm trying to... I don't know." Iruka's hands were shaking where they pressed hard over Kakashi's chest.

Kakashi heard a growing buzz muffling all the sounds around. He felt his head going light. He knew he shouldn't pass out like this, or he probably wouldn't wake up again.

Iruka noticed Kakashi's eyelid going half-mast and pulled him closer, shaking him by the shoulders. "No! Kakashi, stay awake. Stay with me." The pain helped to keep Kakashi awake, but the shaking made him bleed faster.

"Oh no! I didn't meant to do that. Shit, Kakashi, just stay awake. You have to hang on." Iruka turned his head around and shouted again. "Damn it, Sakura! Get the hell here now!"

Kakashi was trying his best to stay awake. Iruka's cursing to one of his former students impressed him. "Wow, sensei. Language."

"Fuck language! I'm not going to sit here in silence watching you bleed out on me."

Kakashi felt a silly smile growing on his face. It was nice seeing Iruka caring so much for him. He wouldn't mind getting shot every now and then if it meant having Iruka holding him like this, and having the teacher's full attention for a while.

Not that Kakashi let Iruka approach him when he tried to ask him out before, and the sensei had tried a couple times before giving up. Kakashi always kept him at arms length. It wouldn't do good to let Iruka get too close. Kakashi had the feeling that Iruka could manage to do what no one else did before: Iruka would find a way to get under all of Kakashi's defenses, shattering his carefully constructed aseptic shell, and turning his whole world upside down. No, that wouldn't be good at all, for Kakashi nor for Iruka. It would end in disaster. Better looking at Iruka from a safety distance, and dreaming of what would never be. Dreams never hurt anyone.

Kakashi's vision was slowly zooming into a narrow tunnel. His head felt as if he was floating adrift in the sea.

 _Perhaps this time I'm really going to die._ The though was strangely devoid of emotion. Kakashi could only feel the piercing pain, and the heavy pressure of Iruka's hands trying to contain his bleeding. Everything else was mashing into a blur.

His coherence started to desert him. Kakashi started to babble.

"It's okay. Dying in your arms is okay. 's what I dreamt of anyway."

"No! No one's dying here in my arms today. Hang on, Kakashi. Keep talking to me."

"You're all covered in my blood. I'm sorry, Iruka. Didn't want you to get dirty. I always mess it all up. Didn't want to mess you up too. Not you." Kakashi's voice was drifting away.

"Kakashi, don't pass out, shit! Stay with me! Talk to me!" The urgency in Iruka's voice was defeated by the growing buzz in Kakashi's ears.

"I wish I could stay with you. I wish I could go home with you. Love you."

Kakashi's eye fluttered and closed for good.

"Kakashi! Kakashi!" Iruka shook him again, with no luck. Kakashi didn't open his eyes. He didn't hear Iruka's voice anymore.

"Move, sensei." Sakura startled Iruka with his commanding words, collected, efficient. Iruka forced himself to let Kakashi go from his iron grip and moved aside, giving Sakura access to Kakashi's inert body laying on the forest dirt. A new spurt of blood poured from Kakashi's wounds when Iruka removed his hands from him.

"I got him now. Stand by."

Iruka watched as Sakura started reanimating Kakashi and applying a quick jutsu to replenish part of his lost blood.

After some excruciating minutes of seeing Kakashi dead to the world, Iruka received from Sakura the news that made him start to breathe easily again.

"I got to him on time. Not by much, though. He'll heal, but we have to take him to Konoha now."

Iruka nodded, still in a state of shock.

 _He'll live. He's going to be okay_.

A deep relief flooded Iruka's body almost physically, and a deep exhaustion too, after the adrenaline rush of it all.

Sakura cleaned the striking red arterial blood from his hands and wrists. She turned to Iruka.

"Do you think you can carry him on your back? You'll have to tread as carefully as possible. No harsh movements, we don't want his internal wounds to reopen."

"Sure. I’ll take good care of him."

"I'm sure you will, sensei." Sakura smiled at him, tired. The purple diamond seal on her forehead contrasted stark on her pale skin. "Let's rest for a bit and then let's hurry back to Konoha."

* * *

Kakashi had been agonizing on his starchy hospital bed since he got his senses back a few hours ago this morning. Not because of his wounds, or the blood loss, or the resulting chakra exhaustion after his body had to deal with Sakura's radical healing.

No, he was dying of embarrassment.

A soft knock on his door made him jump. His reaction elicited a soft amused huff from the shadows in the opposite corner of the room. Nanadaime Naruto sent this unlucky ANBU to keep Kakashi from fleeing the hospital room, as he was so tempted to do right now.

"Don't laugh at your seniors, Snake. It's rude."

"Sorry, sensei." Sasuke's voice behind the white and green mask sounded very much not sorry.

The door opened in the middle of their exchange. Iruka poked his head inside the room and looked at the ANBU in the corner, recognizing him. Iruka greeted him with a small nod and a smile. Snake nodded back at him.

"Good morning, Kakashi-san. Do you feel like getting visits?" Iruka's smile for Kakashi was much more cheeky that his previous one for Sasuke.

Kakashi didn't feel like getting visits, especially Iruka's visit. He felt more like casting an earth jutsu and disappearing forever beneath the floor.

"Ah, of course, Iruka-sensei. Come in." He tried to put a levity in his voice that he didn't feel at all.

Iruka stepped into the room with a slight bounce in his step.

Sasuke didn't know the details about what happened the day before. He only knew the main facts: Kakashi being injured and almost dying while protecting Iruka, Sakura healing him enough to get safely back to Konoha's hospital. But Sasuke had been around his two former senseis long enough to get the hang of what was going on between them. Or, more precisely, what was not going on.

If Sasuke was minimally interested in these kinds of affairs he would have enjoyed the front-row seat he was going to get to Kakashi and Iruka's next interaction. There were even bets going on about the two of them. Konoha had far too many gossip lovers.

"So." Iruka kept his smile. "How are you feeling today? Have you been awake for long?"

"Just for a few hours. I'm fine, thank you." Kakashi smiled his forced eye-smile.

Iruka took in Kakashi's wan appearance. His face was even paler than usual. He wore a white medical mask instead of his normal dark fabric one, and a black sleeveless ANBU shirt. He wasn't wearing his hitae-ate, his hair fell over his face. His sharingan eye was naked and closed.

Iruka saw for the first time the vertical scar over Kakashi's left eye. It felt strangely intimate, like something he was intruding into.

Iruka thought Kakashi looked different like this. Strange, softer, younger. And hot.

He usually would try to get that thought away from his mind. No thinking of Kakashi's hotness where the Copy-Nin could see him getting flustered.

But today was different. Today Iruka knew something he didn't know before.

A sudden image flashed uninvited in Iruka's mind. Kakashi lying still and deadly pale over the fallen leaves of the forest ground, the violent red of his blood all over the place. That memory made Iruka sober instantly.

"What is it, sensei? You look like you just saw a ghost."

Iruka shuddered the dark images away.

"Ah, don't mind me. I'm still a bit shocked by you almost dying on me yesterday. You shouldn't joke about it."

"It's no big deal, Iruka. I've had worse."

Iruka looked at him, worried. "Is that supposed to be reassuring? Because it really isn't. I wish you didn't have to go through those kind of situations as a recurring thing."

"Maa, it comes with my job description. There's not much that can be done about it."

The conversation had turned gloomy. Kakashi didn't like it. However, it was better than having to deal with the big elephant in the room. He wondered if Iruka was going to bring it up. He really, really hoped he wasn't.

Iruka looked at him, pensive.

_Oh, no. He's going to say it._

"You really don't want to talk about it, right?"

Sasuke's interest from his forgotten corner was suddenly piqued. What was Iruka-sensei talking about?

The vanishing earth jutsu idea was looking more and more appealing to Kakashi. He felt his face go red, in addition to being much more exposed than usual without his hitae-ate. He slouched a bit more against the pillows that kept him barely sitting up on the bed.

"There's nothing to talk about." He sounded half grumpy, half shy.

Iruka looked right into Kakashi's eye, and Kakashi saw a glint of mischief.

"Come on, Kakashi. You can't unsay what you said."

 _What could he possibly have said that made Iruka-sensei so cheeky?_ , Sasuke wondered in his corner.

"You're not going to leave me live it down, are you?"

"Kakashi, look at me."

Kakashi couldn't help it, and raised his face. Oh, no, now Iruka could see he was as red as a tomato.

Iruka got serious and spoke slowly.

"Yesterday, when you thought you were going to die, did you or did you not say that you loved me?"

Sasuke almost choked behind his mask.

Kakashi looked away from Iruka's laser gaze.

"Does it matter what I said at a moment like that? You know my brain was severely blood-deprived, right?"

"I know what I heard. And I really think you were not delirious."

"Think whatever you want."

"Then prove it."

"What?" Kakashi looked at Iruka again, frowning.

"Prove that you don't love me."

"How can I prove that? Do you want me to stab you with a kunai or something?"

"I can think of something better."

Iruka smirked at Kakashi and stood up. He got close to the ANBU in the other side of the room.

"Sasuke, would you help me prove my point?"

Sasuke was too shocked to tell off Iruka for using his non-ANBU name. "Yes?," he answered, unsure of what he was agreeing to, but intrigued.

"Good. Would you mind if I kiss you?"

"No?" Sasuke almost smiled. This was going to be interesting.

"Good," Iruka said, with a charming smile. He moved aside Sasuke's Snake mask and gently put his hands on his neck and nape, caressing his wild hair apart from his face. Iruka closed the distance between them and stood there for a second, looking into Sasuke's eyes, giving him a last chance to call it off in case he changed his mind. When Sasuke didn’t, Iruka closed his eyes and leaned in, kissing Sasuke, tenderly at first. The kiss heated, Iruka pulled Sasuke even closer, and his tongue found his way into Sasuke's mouth. His arm went around Sasuke's waist, pulling him closer into their kiss.

"Stop it!" Kakashi was staring at them, aghast. "What are you doing, Iruka? Have you gone crazy? For fuck's sake, this is Sasuke, your student!"

"Ex-student," Sasuke corrected him, raising a finger, still in Iruka's arms. He looked a bit flustered and not concerned at all. His knees might have gone a bit weak with that hell of a kiss, but that was something the other two men didn't need to know.

Iruka stared back at Kakashi, defiant. "What am I doing, you say? I'm trying to make you react, damn! It's time, don't you think? This time you’re starting to be too late even for your standards."

Iruka turned to Sasuke and smiled at him, grateful, before letting him go with a last soft touch at his face. Sasuke gave him back a half smile and composed himself again, putting back on his ANBU mask and going back to his corner. This boring guard mission had turned up to be quite interesting after all.

Iruka walked back to Kakashi, who was still trying to recover from his shock. "I'm tired of waiting for you, Kakashi. I will not wait forever."

Iruka turned away and left the room, without saying goodbye.

* * *

Kakashi was released from the hospital the morning after Iruka’s shocking visit. He didn’t feel like going back to his empty home. Strangely enough, he also didn’t want to go to the memorial stone and talk to his precious people. He wandered the streets of Konoha with no direction in mind, looking at the people around, both civilians and shinobi, immersed in their own matters and tribulations.

Kakashi was restless. He couldn’t stop thinking of Iruka since that show the teacher put up for him the day before. Kakashi was angry with Iruka for using Sasuke so recklessly—even though, to be fair, Sasuke didn’t seem to be offended at all. The little shit. When did those kids start kissing people around so carelessly? Kakashi felt a bit old.

Kakashi shook his head. It was just fair that Iruka got tired of his beating around the bush. Kakashi had been interested in him for years, teasing Iruka and stepping back any time he responded and tried to come close. 

No, that was downplaying it. Kakashi sighed. He could not fool himself any longer. What Kakashi felt for Iruka was quite a bit more than interest.

It was bitterly funny. It took almost dying and getting all his mind filters down for Kakashi to finally admit that he was in love with Iruka.

There, he had said it. Well, not said it out loud, but it was the first time Kakashi mentally used the word _Love_ in the same sentence than _Iruka_ , and didn’t feel the impulse to take it back and deny it.

He felt strange, tingly. It was quite a revelation.

He changed his direction and headed to the Shinobi Academy.

After classes were over for the day, Iruka found Kakashi waiting for him outside the Academy, leaning on a tree with his orange book in hand, the other hand in his pocket. Iruka stopped in front of him. 

“Have you made up your mind?”

Kakashi put away the book. “You win, Iruka. You were right. On everything.”

Iruka relaxed. “It wasn’t so hard, was it?”

“Well, it was. Don’t ever make me stretch like this again.”

“Stop whining. Come here.”

Iruka took Kakashi’s hand and led him behind the big tree, away from everyone’s eyes. He pinned Kakashi against the tree, leaning on him, and hugged him.

“Can I kiss you?”

“Do you ask that to every man you meet, Iruka?”

Iruka chuckled. “Shut up, or I will tell everyone that the Big Bad Copy-Nin was in love with me for years and was too shy to confess.”

“No one will believe you.”

“Yeah, who would believe such a silly thing?”

“Totally unbelievable. What were you saying about a kiss?” Kakashi lowered his mask and nuzzled Iruka’s neck, pulling him close and feeling so complete with Iruka in his arms.

“Ah, yes. The kiss.”

Kissing Iruka for real felt even better than in Kakashi’s dreams.


End file.
